Sunday, September 24, 2000

Socrates Hates Democracy

Looking back over the last 100 issues of Real Change, it occurs to us that we may not be loved by all. This makes us sad, because despite all our tough activist posturing, we are still desperate for approval.

But facts are facts, and facts must be faced. Not everyone thinks the words “homeless” and “empowerment” belong together in the same phrase. There are those who believe the homeless should simply become the non-homeless, and barring that, should just shut up and stop bothering the rest of us.

Socrates would probably have been among them.

We at Classics Corner have always found the Socrates/Christ conflation quite unfortunate, since their opinions regarding the poor couldn’t have been more different. For those unfamiliar with their respective philosophies, we’ll clarify: Christ loved the poor, and said so regularly. Christians still occasionally recognize this odd quirk of his, but more often than not prefer to do so in the abstract.

Socrates, on the other hand, was an elitist — ‘scuse our French — sum’mobitch, and despite the fact that the world around him had gone rabidly democratic, still believed in the rule of kings. Let’s be clear. Aristocracy, for Socrates, was too democratic. Rule by the people, he thought, was dangerous, wrong, and just plain dumb.

Socrates would have found the opinions expressed in Real Change annoying at best.The issue of democracy, for Socrates, revolved around the idea of whether virtue could be taught. He didn’t think so. People had virtue or they did not, and generally speaking, the better one’s breeding, the more virtuous one was. He therefore despised the sophists, or wisdom teachers, of the time, who were busy teaching the rising Greek middle class how to effectively reason, debate, and get their way in the public assembly, which he also despised.

This is why the Protagoras is our favorite Platonic dialogue. Protagoras was a famous sophist, and he and Socrates clash over this very question. Oddly, Socrates loses.Protagoras relays a lovely creation myth in which Epimethus, the god who peopled the world, makes all the animals first and forgets to save any of the good stuff for us.

Prometheus, to his later peril, tries to save our pathetic asses by stealing art from Athena and fire from Hephaestus. This helps, but it’s not enough. When we try to live in communities, we just fight and kill and make a mess of things in general.Zeus brilliantly sends in Hermes to give us mutual respect and a sense of justice.

The messenger asks who he should give these talents, and Zeus says “to all.” Protagoras’ point is that democracy works because we all have the potential to participate.

Socrates gets all pissy and diverts the conversation to hairsplitting word games until everyone, including the reader of the dialogue, just has a big headache. But Protagoras’ argument stands unchallenged: There is something about the democratic process that makes us complete. We are born to it. All of us.

So what’s our point? Love us or not, Real Change is here to stay. Join us next time, when we ask, “Does Slade Gorton have a soul?”

Image Red are a design and marketing agency, a website production company and a software design agency. We have a vast service and product range including banner / billboard advertising, LCD touch screen systems, shop window advert projection using the very latest technology in daylight projectors, brochures, brand development from conception to business stationary design and printing, all forms of point of sale advertising, website design , website build and hosting solutions ranging from small business websites to public sector websites in a diverse range of applications from facial recognition to e-commerce, Promat (Profile Matching System) which is a video identification system used by the police forces widely throughout the country and oversees and Maps (Multiple Album Profiling System) which is a product for doing witness viewing albums to help the police identify possible suspects by showing the witness a number of known felons images. If you require any help with anything in your business relating to marketing your products and services effectively then please ring our friendly sales team on 01282 442460 who are ready to take your call now.3d scanning from Surfdev, a specialist scanning service performed by a reverse engineering company.Vaccum forming and CAD/CAM, APHWEB provide high specification work, working from drawings and models using modern and traditional methods.Headstones gravestones or memorials for children adults are pets from Headstones.co.uk.Memorial service from UK Memorial Service one of the largest stone mason companies in the UK that provide gravestones and memorials for all.

London chauffeur company for all chauffeur driven cars in the London areas including Heathrow Stansted Gatwick and Biggin HillLimo Sheffield Doncaster and Worksop from Stretched to the Extreme a Yorkshire limo hire company.Limo hire east Sussex and Brighton from East Sussex Limo hire, an NLCA limo member providing a corporate limo service.Take advantage of lower flight prices now and let Airport transfer Heathrow get you to your preferred Airport on time every time.If you’re traveling from Cambridge to Stansted , Huntingdon to Stansted, Stansted to Luton, Gatwick to CambridgeOr any UK airport, rail terminal and Seaport Airport transfer Heathrow will get you there on time in style.Limo Hire East Sussex provide a professional limo hire service in Brighton Torquay and the surrounding areas.Limo hire Oxford from The Oxford Limo Company, providing a limo service for all events and occasions such as weddings and birthdays and much more.Hire Limo Leicester are providers of stretch limos and limo buses in Leicester Nottingham and the West MidlandsHire Limo Cardiff for all your stretch limousines in Cardiff and the surrounding areas. Limo hire in London, Limo Hire in London are part of the 1st Event Group a 1st class limo hire service for all of London.Limo hire Kent and Surrey for limousines in and around north London contact Main Event Limos, a professional limo hire service.

About Me

“Being is becoming,” and if we’re not “becoming,” we’re probably not doing much “being” either. This blog was started in a half-assed attempt at self-excavation. I have at least two unusual personality traits. The first is that I’m abnormally comfortable with ambiguity. I can happily muck about in the gray areas for years on end. This is probably why I love Seattle. The other is that I have a completely unrealistic belief in my own agency, which I tend to act upon. This blog has changed my life in more ways than I ever imagined. As my job as ED of a activist newspaper sold by homeless people, my vision for organizing, my thinking as a teacher, my history as a working-poor loser turned middle-class “advocate,” and my life as a parent swirled about me, this blog has been a path toward the center. We live in dangerous times, and the seductions to an easy, half-lived life of anesthetized materialism are all around. I have come to understand that my work is to be a revolutionary, both out in the world and within myself, turning over what is old, rotten, stale, and repressive, and building for a future where we can all find happiness and have the things we truly need.